Lawyer Forgotten in Prison for Four Hours

Apparently, you don't need to be an inmate to find yourself incarcerated in San Diego. And this is not a one-time problem, either. It's one of those ongoing-type issues in San Diego.

A California lawyer was left in a waiting room at a San Diego jail, after guards forgot about him, according to NBC News.

The lawyer, Erubey Lopez, was visiting a client. He was left in the waiting room without a cell phone, as the prison didn't allow the use of cell phones inside.

He waited for half an hour in the waiting room and even tried to use the intercom. Three and a half hours later, a guard heard him pounding on the door and finally let him out.

While Lopez left the prison unscathed, this type of oversight could be a huge liability for a prison. What if Lopez had a condition, such as diabetes? What if he had a heart condition?

The weird thing is that this type of incident has happened in prisons before, less than a year ago. It's not the first time it's happened in the same prison, reports Yagoo! News.

Last spring, the Drug Enforcement Administration left a University of California student, Daniel Chong, in a holding cell for five days after they forgot about him. They held Chong as they conducted a raid on a suspected Ecstasy distribution ring. Chong was subsequently cleared and no charges were filed against him, but the ordeal nearly killed him.

He was left with no food, drink or toilet. Chong claims that he drank his own urine and tried to kill himself while he was "forgotten." He filed a lawsuit for $20 million against the DEA.

Once discovered, Chong was taken to the hospital for five days. He was close to kidney failure and spent three days in the intensive care unit.

You would imagine that after running an innocent person through such an ordeal, the prison officials at San Diego's prison would be on alert to ensure something like this never happened again.

Apparently not.

- See more at: http://blogs.findlaw.com/legally_weird/2013/02/lawyer-forgotten-in-priso...